Chapter 1

Luffy realized that he was the last member of his crew. He was alone and kneeling before Sakazuki. He couldn't focus on any other fact. It shouldn't have ended up this way, but it had. He should have been able to protect his nakama, but he couldn't.

Now, none of his crew would ever reach their dreams. All because they had helped him try to achieve his own. They had given everything, and in the end, it hadn't been enough.

Looking around the island, the devastation was evident. You would never guess that this island was once peaceful and filled with happy villagers. Now there was only lava and the overbearing stench of death. He and Sakazuki were located on one of the few patches of ground untouched by his powers.

Looking out to sea Luffy could see the burning remains of Sunny slowly sinking into the murky depths of the ocean. Of his nakama, there was no trace. They had been purged from the earth just as the villagers and the marines had been. There were only two living beings on this island — himself and Sakazuki.

He looked up at the monster currently oozing magma that had brought about the end of his nakama. Sakazuki had taken everything from him. First his brother all those years ago, and now he had killed all of his nakama.

As Luffy observed Sakazuki, he looked at all the injuries that he had received in their battle. The most scaring of which was the vertical slash down the left side of his face. Zoro had given him that wound just like he had received during his training with Mihawk. But other than that Sakazuki just looked weary with minor gashes to clothes and any parts of his body that weren't currently molten.

Luffy was too broken to continue fighting. With his nakama on the line, he would have kept fighting until he could no longer draw breath no matter how outclassed Luffy was. But he didn't have any nakama to fight for anymore. Sakazuki had won. The Marines had won. Sakazuki knew this just as Luffy knew this.

Luffy focused on his face. He had a malicious look in his eye accompanied by a triumphant smirk. It was not the face of a man whose actions weighed heavily upon his soul. With labored breath, Sakazuki let out a cruel laugh. "You have lost Straw Hat," Sakazuki rasped out.

He honestly appeared to be just as injured as Luffy was. Unlike Luffy however, he hadn't lost anyone he cared about that day. All the marines there had given their lives to help end piracy and thus had died righteously.

So he raised his right fist the same one that had ended Ace's life would now end his brother's. Bathed in magma, he prepared to finish Luffy, and he was ready to die.

However, Luffy would not die today. Instead, as Luffy looked at Sakazuki's face, he noticed surprise cross it. Luffy had no time to think about what had caused this change before a hand grasping something burst out of Sakazuki's chest. His heart was held within its grasp.

Luffy saw that Sakazuki's face was frozen in surprise as the life drained from his eyes. Sakazuki slumped to the ground as the figure's hand slipped out of his chest holding his heart. Luffy had survived.

Luffy however, did not want to survive. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes as he looked at the mysterious figure and gave him a confused look. The character met his gaze but didn't say anything at first.

Luffy got his first chance to observe the newcomer. He was dressed almost entirely in black. His suit, shoes, and even his tie were a solid black. His shirt was red as the blood that stained his hand.

He also had neatly cut hair as black as his clothes. But the man himself was pale, disturbingly so. If Luffy looked hard enough, he could swear he could see the man's skull through his near translucent skin.

The man gave Luffy a strange smile. Not a hostile one but it still unnerved Luffy.

"I must admit I am appalled at your manors," said the man with a smirk. "I would think that you owe me thanks for saving your life."

Luffy asked, "Why did you stop him from killing me?"

The man's grin grew even wider "Well I would think that the answer to that question would be quite obvious." He started to look away a bored expression replacing the grin, "But if I actually need to spell it out for you I suppose I will…"

The man leaned down and put his face right in front of Luffy's his grin came back nearly splitting his face in two. "The reason I saved you is, that this isn't the way I want your story to end."

Luffy was surprised as he was confused. He wasn't quite sure how to respond. The man didn't seem too keen to offer any more answers though until Luffy spoke again.

"What do you mean my story? My nakama are dead, and I can't keep going knowing I wasn't strong enough to protect them."

"The man let out a snicker "But that is exactly why I helped you, don't you see? I didn't want it to end this way, so I'm giving you some assistance." Standing up the strange man continued speaking.

"I know you are all broken up about the death of your nakama but what if I said I could make all this just a bad dream."

Luffy disliked the mocking tone the man had taken but what he seemed to be proposing was something Luffy desperately needed. "Could you bring them back?"

At this, the man laughed "Well of course not who do you think I am a god? No, what I offer is a deal. Not to bring them back but instead, allow you to change the past, and make sure that this," he gestured to the hellish landscape around them "never happens."

Luffy realized he really only had one choice. Even if he didn't like or trust the man in front of him. He needed his nakama and thus was willing to do whatever it took to get them back. "What do you need me to do?"

At this, the man's grin grew once again "Well that's quite simple you just need to accept the power I give you and from now on keep things interesting for me. I already saw what happened, so I want to see something new. Catch my drift?"

Luffy seemed to understand what the man was saying, "You want me to change the past…to entertain you?"

The man laughed "Yes! You do understand that's great. However, back to that other condition. The power I want to give you is superior to your Gum-Gum Fruit."

Luffy was intrigued at this but let the man continue.

"In fact, it is a devil fruit of my own making… well, sort of my own making. I had some help from our heartless nakama there." He said this while gesturing towards Sakazuki. "And one other man yet I can't seem to recall his name… But that is not important."

With this, he held out his still bloody hand. The hand which used to contain a heart now carried a devil fruit. One with the classic swirls that were on many devil fruit but this one was multi-colored featuring both dark red and light blue swirls. "What I have here in my hand is the Icy-Mag Fruit. When I ripped the heart from Sakazuki, I also removed the devil fruit within him. Combining his Mag-Mag Fruit with another's Icy-Icy Fruit."

Luffy began to think back to when he had seen an ice type devil fruit and quickly realized who it had come from, "You killed Kuzan didn't you?"

"Was that his name? Well, no matter he's dead and now you have a choice. Do you take the Icy-Mag Fruit and continue your adventure or do you choose to live your life as if we never crossed paths?"

Luffy without thinking twice reached out and took the fruit. Before Luffy could react however the man plunged his still bloody hand into Luffy's chest. Luffy was motionless and couldn't feel the hand that should currently be squirming around in his insides.

The man laughed, "Oh before I forget I have to well… remove your previous devil fruit if you want the new one. While I did kill the others, I'm pretty sure I can do it without killing you…maybe. However, it will most likely be excruciatingly painful."

The man began pulling his hand out. Luffy had never experienced pain quite like this. It was as if the man was ripping him apart at the seams. He screamed as the man kept pulling and pulling something from within Luffy's chest. As the man's hand slid out of his chest, the very same fruit he had eaten as a child, came out with it. He was now holding up the Gum-Gum Fruit as if it had never been consumed all those years ago.

"Well as pleasant as your company has been I'm afraid our time together is drawing to a close. You can keep the Gum-Gum Fruit for I have no need for it. I'd recommend giving it to one of your recently deceased nakama but from here on out what you do is entirely up to you."

Luffy still reeling from the pain started to consume the new devil fruit and just like when he was a kid grimaced at the terrible taste. Once he finished, he took his old devil fruit out of the man's hand. "So Luffy are you ready for your new adventure?"

Luffy nodded his head in acceptance, and as the man reached forward with two fingers towards him, Luffy asked one question, "Who are you?"

The man grinned but said nothing as he touched his fingers to Luffy's head and the world went black.

The next thing Luffy experienced was an incredibly bright flash of light and the sensation that he was falling.

After that, he noticed he was surprisingly high up in the air. Luffy thought to himself, 'Where exactly did that strange guy send me and when?'

He saw a burnt up bird and what seemed to be a dispersing explosion of some kind. This did bring back some memories, but he couldn't quite recall why.

Luffy started to focus on the ground that was rapidly approaching. All he could see was some town, but it didn't really have anything to set itself apart from any other town he had visited, so that didn't help him any. But as he came closer and closer to the ground, he saw an orange haired woman running from three large looking men.

Now, this definitely seemed familiar, but he didn't have any time to give this any more thought as he hit the ground with a loud crash. Groaning Luffy began to stand up. It occurred to him that this crash actually hurt which was odd because he'd never been bothered by blunt damage before.

Then it hit him he was no longer a rubber man he was instead… a frozen magma man? He'd have to come up with a cooler name than that, but it looks like the men in front of him were getting over their surprise.

"Hey who the hell are you? And how'd a punk like you survive that kind of fall?" The one with the scars all across his head demanded.

Before Luffy could respond, a woman's voice, spoke up from behind him. "Boss! You came to save me!" He knew that voice. Turning around he saw a woman that just a few hours before had been murdered before his very eyes.

"Nami," Luffy mumbled aloud. The future navigator of the Straw Hat pirates seemed perturbed at first that a random man who mere seconds before had fallen out of the sky, knew her name. But she didn't have much time to dwell on this, she had to get out of there now that she had the map. She didn't have time to waste.

She took off with a shout of, "Sorry, but they're all yours now!" and then she was soon running into the distance. But Luffy knew where he was now. This was the town that he had first faced down Buggy the Clown and when Nami had become his navigator.

"So you're that girl's boss eh? Well, too bad cause now you've got to..." he didn't even get to finish his sentence before Luffy turned and sent a small wave of conqueror's haki his way immediately knocking all three men unconscious.

Luffy heard a quiet, "What the hell." from up on the roof of one of the nearby buildings.

"What did you do to those guys? You didn't even touch them." Thinking to herself 'Just who is this guy and why does he know my name?'

"Oh well, I used what is called conqueror's haki it allows me to knock people of weak will unconscious," Luffy said.

'Holy shit this guy might be incredibly strong. Hmm… I wonder if I can use him to get some of that clown bastard's treasure?' Nami thought.

She shouted down to the strange man "Hey look you seem tough, and I could use your help. Wanna team up with me?"

Luffy didn't respond at first. He merely watched Nami. It was weird seeing her, it made him realize just how much she had changed over those two years apart.

He realized Nami was looking at him oddly now and it hit him. 'Oh man, how long have I been staring at her?'

"Uh… sure I'll team up with you but first…" and at this moment his stomach rumbled in hunger.

Nami heard and laughed to herself "Let me guess you want some food right?"

Luffy gave a start to this, "Wow! How'd you guess that!?"

Nami sweatdropped at this. The guy didn't appear all that bright. Oh well, she didn't need smart right now just someone strong. "Never mind about that let's just get you some food." So she jumped down from the roof and led the man to one of the unoccupied houses.

Nami prepared a sandwich for her new partner in crime. While she was doing this, she decided to try and get to know a little bit about this man.

From what she had seen he seemed pretty tough. He must have been around 6ft tall with broad shoulders. The guy also had this massive scar across his chest in the shape of an X. He was wearing a red shirt that he kept unbuttoned as well as shorts and a yellow sash fastened around his waist. He was also wearing a straw hat held by a cord wrapped around his neck.

She wasn't sure why he seemed to know her name, but she decided to figure this out later. "So who exactly are you and how strong are you?"

Luffy thought about this for a second. How much could he really tell her? He definitely couldn't let too much slip, or she'd probably think he was crazy. So he figured vague answers would do for now. "Well the name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I am pretty strong I guess."

Nami nodded at this and decided to introduce herself as well pretending she hadn't heard him earlier when he said her name. "Well my name is Nami, and I am a thief who steals from pirates."

"Ah so is that why those guys came after you earlier? You don't seem to have any treasure on you so what'd you steal from them?"

"Well, I stole a map of the Grand Line from them. I need it if I'm going to achieve my goal."

Luffy's face softened at this. He remembered the hardship she had been through and was saddened that she was still suffering under it. But this was going to be another chance to give a severe beat down to Arlong. So he asked, "What is your goal then?"

"I need to earn one hundred million Berries, no matter what it takes," Nami said with a look of determination on her face.

"Ah so that's your goal but why exactly do you need so much?"

"It's none of your business!" she said while turning around.

"Ok, I suppose since you told me your goal I'll tell you mine." Luffy had an idea that might help in dealing with Arlong.

Nami seemed interested in this and turned her head over her shoulder looking back at Luffy. "Oh, so what is your goal?"

"I wanted to test my strength before heading to the Grand Line," Luffy said and could see it surprised Nami a little.

"Oh? How do you plan on doing that?" Nami asked curious about his answer.

"There are a few strong bad guys that I figure if I can take them down I should be more than ready for the Grand Line," Luffy said. "I already took one down a Marine Captain named Morgan, and there is another on this island called Buggy the Clown."

Nami was surprised to hear that. 'He took down Captain Morgan?' She now knew who had likely interrupted her burglary of the Captain's base.

'Maybe he recognizes me from that? All though I still don't know how he would have learned my name…' Nami thought as she pondered what it could mean.

"Why do you want to go to the Grand Line then, and why do you feel the need to fight all these bad guys before you do?" Nami asked.

Luffy scratched his chin thinking of the best way to answer that. "I figured that if I'm going to be leaving East Blue, I could at least take down some serious bad guys before I go. After all, this sea is where I grew up, and it wouldn't feel right to leave them at their mercy while I move on." Luffy said carefully choosing his words.

"I also figured that if I can take all this ocean can throw at me then I should be more than ready for the Grand Line. Captain Morgan, Buggy the Clown, and Arlong being some that I wanted to bring down the most." Luffy said watching Nami's reaction to the last named Pirate.

"Arlong!" Nami said before calming herself. "I've heard of him. What makes you think you're strong enough to defeat a monster like that." She said attempting to sound uninterested.

"Cause I've defeated stronger monsters than him and for less reason," Luffy said giving a broad grin to Nami.

Nami wasn't sure what to think of this man before her anymore. He certainly must have been strong to just knock those men out with that haki of his whatever that was. But was he powerful enough to defeat someone like Arlong? So she said: "Prove it."

"What you want me to go fight Arlong right now? I don't really know how to get to him from here I'd need a navigator for that," Luffy said.

"No, what I want you to do is why I initially wanted to team up with you although I was planning on you being a diversion." Nami said rethinking her earlier plan of 'turning in her boss' to Buggy.

"What do you mean Nami?"

"Well if you can defeat Buggy and all his crew single-handed I might just believe that you can defeat someone like Arlong," Nami said to Luffy. "If you can manage that much then I will agree to be your navigator on a temporary basis."

Luffy shoved the remaining amount of food in his mouth and quickly swallowed. "Ok sounds easy enough do you know where they are hiding out?"

"Well, I can take you to them but don't expect any help from me if you get overwhelmed." And with that, they left the abandoned house and made their way to Buggy's campsite.

"People say he has a devil fruit power, and that's going to make him tough to beat," Nami said to Luffy. While this was a test for him, she did hope that he knew what he was getting himself into.

"Oh yeah well that doesn't scare me. Buggy's not the only one with a devil fruit power."

"Wait you have a devil fruit power!? How come you never mentioned that earlier? What can you do?" Nami had stopped leading Luffy and was keen to see what his power was.

"Oh yeah I do, and I didn't say something about it because you never asked. Well, I could show you but to be honest, I've never used it before so give me a second to try and figure out how it works."

At this Nami face faulted 'He has a devil fruit power, but has never once used it!?'

Luffy closed his eyes and tried to focus on the new powers he should have. Deep within himself, he began to feel two sources of energy. One was made up of frigid cold and the other a blazing heat. He tried drawing from both, and he could feel the power welling up inside him.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at his hands and began channeling his powers to both his arms. In his right, he focused the heat and in his left, the cold.

Before his very eyes, his left arm completely froze over, but it didn't hurt, and the cold was almost welcoming. Looking to his right, he could see it was formed out of magma and drops of the molten substance fell off his arm boring into the stones that made up the road. Looking back at Nami he couldn't help but smirk noticing her surprised look.

"D-do you have two devil fruits?" Nami asked unable to peel her eyes from his two elemental arms.

"No, it's just one I ate the Icy-Mag Fruit which gives me control over both magma and ice. I am a frozen magma man I guess."

Nami couldn't believe it. 'Who exactly was this man?' For the first time, she began to seriously consider if he might be strong enough to take Arlong down.

"I'm sort of new to this devil fruit, but it's a logia type if you know what that means."

Nami shook her head at this, so Luffy began to explain.

"Well, it means that my body can make up two elements at will so things like bullets, blades, and fists will have no effect on me. Well unless they are powered up by haki but no one in the East Blue should be able to use that."

"Wait haki is that ability you used before right? So if people don't have haki they basically can't hurt you?" Nami was extremely surprised at this. She had never seen Arlong use any kind of power like that. If that was true, did that mean Arlong couldn't hurt him?

"Well, there are ways I mean if I am touching sea water or Sea-Prism Stone my powers would go away. Although if I'm fast enough, I might be able to freeze the water if I fell in. Also, people with powers more elemental in nature could be able to affect me depending on what they are. Although I think I have to train for me to change form on reflex. So I have to be aware of an attack to negate it." Luffy said pondering the weaknesses of his new logia.

'Ok, so he isn't immortal but still… He might actually be able to kick Arlong's ass.' Could her goal be closer to hand then she thought? She could stop working towards paying him and instead focus on her dream.

'Well, he still has to defeat Buggy if he can't do that there's no way he could fight someone like Arlong.'

She did think it was interesting that this guy seemed comfortable enough to list off all of his weaknesses. Not that she would probably be able to take advantage of any of them considering she had never even heard of Sea-Prism Stone or haki before.

"Alright well… That's good to know, but you have to defeat Buggy before I even consider being your navigator." Even if she was trying to sound skeptical, she couldn't help but actually start hoping that she had found someone strong enough to end Arlong's abuse.

At that Luffy laughed "Alright well lead the way and I'll kick his ass." So the two set off again towards their destination. The pair encountered a familiar face on their way, or at least familiar to Luffy.

"Hey, Zoro! I see ya finally caught up with me what took you so long?" Luffy said with a stupid grin on his face. Zoro looked annoyed for a second and seemed on the verge of yelling at his captain most likely for being kidnapped by a bird, but once he got a look at his captain, he realized something was wrong.

"Luffy what the hell happened to you? Why do you look so different?"

Luffy confused at first was about to ask what he meant when he looked down, and it suddenly dawned on him. He still looked exactly the same as he did before he traveled back in time.

To Zoro, it must seem like he suddenly aged, grown larger and changed clothes. Thinking on that he supposed according to this time he had done just that. How was he going to explain this to Zoro?

"Wait Luffy you know this guy? But he's the pirate hunter, right? What are you doing with him?" Nami asked confused at why Luffy would know a pirate hunter.

'What's the deal with Luffy's looks?' she thought to herself.

"Yeah he used to be a pirate hunter but I helped him out, and in return, he became my first mate!" Luffy said looking proud of himself.

Zoro still giving his captain a sideways look confirmed this. "Yeah but Luffy you still haven't answered my question. You look... older. What's going on with that?"

Zoro was staring intently at his captain, and Nami herself looked to see what Luffy's explanation was. The fact that he knew her name when they first met came to the forefront of her mind again.

'Who exactly is this guy?' She found herself wondering still.

Luffy was visibly sweating at this point he wasn't sure what to say. So not knowing what else to tell Luffy asked: "Uh would you mind waiting for that explanation while we go kick some pirate ass?"

Zoro simply nodded and said, "Sounds good to me." Taking off in the opposite direction that Nami and Luffy had initially been heading in.

Nami was confused at this and shouted "Where do you think you're headed? The pirates are this way!" while pointing further down the street.

Zoro simply stopped turned around and started heading the right direction letting out a simple "Oh."

Nami face faulted at this. 'What was he just going to take off in a random direction until he ran into pirates? And why the hell was he not more concerned about the apparent transformation of his captain?'

Nami certainly wanted to hear his explanation. But with nothing else to really say started heading in the same direction as Zoro with Luffy following close behind.

The three eventually came across a broad platform overlooking the area. At the top, you could see a tent and a giant cannon currently hanging over the edge pointed at some of the abandoned houses.

At least Nami hoped they were all abandoned because a second later a resounding boom sounded out and suddenly a long row of houses was suddenly leveled in the blink of an eye.

"Alright, Nami so do you want me to defeat these guys by myself or do you mind if Zoro takes a couple?"

Nami thought about this for a second but then decided that Luffy should take them all down by himself. After all, if he wants to fight Arlong, this should be a piece of cake. "Well, the deal was for you to fight them so you should just take them on while we watch."

"Sounds good to me!" And with that, the three split up with Luffy heading to the roof of the building with the tent and Zoro and Nami heading to one of the roofs of the other buildings.

"So Zoro can you tell me a little about Luffy? How long has it been since you've seen him if he has changed so drastically?" Nami figured if she wasn't going to get any answers from Luffy then maybe Zoro could tell her something about him.

"Well the last time I saw him was a little more than a few hours ago which is why this change kind of disturbs me. But I guess well the kids a moron, but he's got guts, and he's pretty strong. Especially with that devil fruit of his."

"Wait you've seen his devil fruit? He told me that was something new. When he showed me, he had to figure out how to use it." Nami looked to Zoro expectantly.

"What do you mean he had to 'figure it out'? He seemed to pretty much have his rubber powers down when I saw him grab hold of that giant bird a few thousand feet above his head."

Zoro was confused at her question. He guessed he had never asked exactly when Luffy got his powers, but with the way Luffy handled them, Zoro never thought they were anything new to him.

"What do you mean by rubber powers? I was told he had eaten the Icy-Mag Fruit. I saw him with magma dripping down his arm as the other one was made completely of ice."

At this Zoro's eyes widened. 'Magma and ice?' Those weren't the powers he had seen before, and they certainly sounded like devil fruit powers. Did he have more than one devil fruit? But that was supposed to be impossible.

Zoro looked towards the opposite roof where he could see Luffy's form nearing the tent. He didn't know what was going on anymore, but he certainly knew one thing.

'Luffy's certainly got some explaining to do...' both Nami and Zoro thought simultaneously.

Luffy made his way to the roof and was now approaching the tent of Buggy the Clown. It seemed something was happening near where Buggy should have been because all of his crew were surrounding the entrance.

"So what you are telling me is that you three not only let that thief get away, but you were also all knocked unconscious from a man who fell from the sky? Do you take me for a fool?"

"Of course not Captain Buggy we'd never take for you for a clown… I mean fool!" One of the men in the center shouted.

Buggy was silent for a second. But so was everyone else as no one dared utter a word. "Did you just call me… a CLOWN! Prepare to die flas…"

Before Buggy could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a loud "Hey! Big nose get out here so I can kick your ass!" An even greater silence was met at this. None of the Buggy Pirates could believe what had just been said. An opening was created in the group so Buggy could see the offender.

After a short silence where no one moved, Buggy began to laugh ominously. The crew grew uneasily at this, there was no way this was going to end well. "You three, today is your lucky day. If you kill this guy, I will forgive your pathetic failures, and I might just forgive the insult."

The three men looked towards the guy that dared insult their captain and were suddenly horror-struck to learn that it was that man. "But Buggy! This is the guy that knocked us out before! We were no match for him!"

"I won't repeat myself either he dies, or all of you die." Buggy said staring the three down.

So the three warily started making their way to the man with the straw hat. However, as they grew nearer, Luffy began to use his devil fruit powers much to the terror of the three advancing on him.

Luffy using his ice powers began to freeze the ground he walked on which spread across the battlefield. This caused the advancing pirates to slip up and fall as the rest tried their best to remain standing.

Then Luffy used his conqueror's haki to knock out the weak-willed pirates, and just as before the Buggy Pirates collapsed to the ground unconscious. This left only two standing on the ice. Luffy and Buggy were the only two conscious left after Luffy's assault.

Buggy's eyes widened at this. If he wasn't mistaken that was conquerors haki, but there were only two men he had seen to ever display that power. Of those two only one was alive, and he hadn't seen that man for a long time.

Not just that, but that ice ability had to be a devil fruit. But what kind was it? If it was a logia… Buggy wasn't sure he could counter that.

"Who the hell are you kid? And how do you have conqueror's haki?" Buggy wasn't sure what he should do about the kid. On the one hand, he had made fun of his nose and knocked his men unconscious. For that, he wanted to kill him.

However, this kid could also be a powerful ally. He seemed to be alone, so maybe he was looking for a crew to join up with.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" Luffy said while standing defiantly in front of Buggy. "Oh and I'm going to kick your ass."

'Never mind I'm going to have to kill this guy.' Buggy thought. The kid was too ambitious and a moron on top of it. "Alright Straw Hat how about this instead. I kill you, and then I'll be the one finding One Piece."

Luffy figured it was time to end this. Focusing his ice powers once again he created a pillar behind Buggy that launched him towards Luffy. He powered up one of his arms with haki, and with speed, the clown couldn't follow, punched him with enough force to knock the pirate out instantly sending him crashing back to the ground.

"Well better get back to my crew then." After dusting himself off, he started heading off to where Nami and Zoro should be while dragging Buggy along with him. They chose to meet him halfway back in the town's streets.

Both of them had been shocked at what they had just watched take place. Luffy had managed to take down the entire crew with an ease that seemed inhuman.

"Luffy how did you knock all those guys unconscious?" Zoro wasn't wasting any time it seemed and wanted to figure out exactly what was going on. Which if Luffy thought about it sort of made sense they had only really been traveling together for a couple days at this point.

"That was your conqueror's haki, right? The thing you used to knock those three out from before." Luffy nodded at this.

"Look guys I know I promised to answer your guy's questions but let's first get to the harbor. I want to start getting headed to the next island, and we still have to make sure the Buggy pirates leave this island alone." And at this Luffy started heading in the direction of the harbor.

"How about you guys go bring the ship around to where Buggy's ship is, and I'll head directly there," Luffy said as he started walking towards the harbor with Buggy in tow.

Nami and Zoro gave each other a look but said nothing and headed towards where their ships were located. After a short walk, they eventually made it to the boats. They were surprised when the three pirates Nami had tricked before, and then Zoro had later conscripted were waiting for them.

They had intended to steal back the treasure Nami had stolen from them, and get revenge. Now they realized their mistake as they were facing down not just the girl, but Zoro as well.

Zoro just gave them a look and said: "You're going to row us to your ship alright?"

The pirates terrified could only nod eagerly not wanting to upset Zoro again. Zoro then began to take some of the supplies from the small boat and load up Nami's larger one.

Nami had hesitated to allow Zoro to bring their stuff on board her own ship but realized that Luffy was really her only shot to get rid of Arlong. So, for now, it would be alright if they sailed together.

There wasn't much to be transferred and quickly found themselves on their way again. The three pirates were eager to take Nami and Zoro where they wanted.

Back with Luffy, he had just made it to Buggy's ship. It seemed quiet, so there probably weren't many crewmembers on it. However, he hadn't fought Mohji or Cabaji, so they were likely on the ship. Luffy lifted Buggy above his shoulder and launched him onto the boat hearing a crash and yells of surprise.

"Captain!" Luffy heard two distinct voices call out. Luffy launched himself with a pillar of ice and landed on the deck of the ship, causing the two pirates currently on board to turn in surprise.

Luffy noticed that the captain's quarters of the vessel now had a decent sized hole in it. Although no other visible damage was done to the ship and seemed perfectly sailable.

"Hey, you two stop worrying about your captain," Luffy said while still walking towards the destroyed captain's quarters. The two Buggy Pirates as well as their pet lion looked at him, surprised someone dared come aboard their ship despite its current condition.

"Hey, just who do you think you are? You must be quite brave to dare come aboard the ship of Captain Buggy!" Mohji emphasized the name as if to make Luffy start quaking in his boots.

"I wouldn't call it brave considering I'm the one who just put your captain through your ship. Now I have come to ask something of you if you'll listen."

"And why the hell should we listen to you! I think we should just kick your ass instead." This time Cabaji spoke up.

"Well for one if I'm strong enough to defeat your captain I'm more than enough for the two of you. And your other reason is…" At this Luffy powered both of his arms up with magma allowing a single drop to hit the boat's deck immediately starting to eat through the wood. "… If you don't listen, I'll put your boat at the bottom of this harbor."

The two men immediately stopped their advance warily eyeing the man before them. Deciding he had the upper hand Mohji caved saying "Ok! Ok! Let's not be too hasty here. What do you want from us?"

Luffy let the magma sink back into his skin and stopped the drop that was currently eating its way through the ship. "Well back at Buggy's camp you'll find the rest of your crewmates. I want you to take them and your captain and get the hell off this island."

The first mate and chief of staff looked at each other at first unsure what to say. Without their captain guiding them though they supposed they really only had one choice. "And how do we know you aren't just going to destroy our ship while we're away?"

"You don't. But what I really want is you to leave this town, and you're going to need a ship to do that. So ultimately you're just going to have to trust me." Luffy retorted while staring them both down.

"Moji I think we should do as he says. If he's really the one that defeated the captain were no match for him. We should just get out of here."

Moji nodded at this "Ok we'll do as you ask just give us some time and we'll have our men on board and be on our way."

"Well get on your way then. I'll be here to make sure you leave." Luffy said giving the three a harsh look that demanded compliance.

The three Buggy pirates made their way off the ship and started heading to where their camp was. After they got some distance away, Luffy walked over to the rails noticing the small vessel docking and shouted down to his crew.

"Hey, Nami! There is no one conscious on this ship right now do you want to search it for treasure?" And quicker than the eye could make out Luffy was suddenly being dragged below deck.

"Great idea Luffy! Help me in collecting his treasure, and I promise you will get around 1% of the haul." She said this while looking back at Luffy her eyes were replaced with Berries.

Luffy couldn't help but smile at this. This was the Nami he remembered. "Ok sounds like a plan Nami."

The two collected up the treasure that Buggy had accumulated and brought it to Nami's ship.

Zoro then ordered their pirate captives to get back on their own ship. This was an order the three were eager to accept as they climbed back on their vessel. However, when they noticed their unconscious captain, they once again grew nervous.

'Just how strong were those pirates?' they thought to themselves.

Luffy then explained what had transpired aboard the pirate vessel to his two nakama while they waited for them to get back.

Just like they had promised the remaining Buggy Pirates eventually returned with their pet lion following close behind with a cart laden with the unconscious crew members.

The five conscious members of the Buggy pirates were currently giving uneasy glances towards the pirates in the small ship in which Luffy was now watching them intently.

True to his word Luffy let them set sail. When the ship was an acceptable distance away from the island, Luffy and company set out as well. No words were spoken for a while, but Luffy could tell the atmosphere was a little tense. Since it seemed they were a reasonable distance away from the island he spoke up.

"So I'm guessing you guys want to talk now right?" Nami and Zoro gave a quick look at each other and Nami nodded to Zoro giving him the go ahead at the first question.

"So what exactly happened between when I saw you last and now? You just single-handedly took down an entire pirate crew with little effort. Not only that but you've got new abilities, and finally why the hell does it look like you're older than me now?" Zoro said laying out all his concerns.

Luffy was expecting this line of questioning but still had no clue how to answer it. He supposed he could just give them an abridged version of the truth. At this point, it might just be the easiest way. Luffy let out a long sigh having made his mind up.

"Well, to be honest, a lot has happened. I am not the same Luffy you knew from Shell Town. Well, I am, but at the same time I'm not."

"That doesn't exactly answer my question Luffy," Zoro said crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I know, I know just give me a second. I guess the simplest way to explain it is that I'm over three years older than I was when you last saw me." Luffy looked straight into Zoro's eyes when he said this as if to convey the seriousness of his statement.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at this but said nothing yet. However, that wasn't the case with Nami.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Nami seemed very flustered at the declaration by Luffy.

'How exactly does someone just age years in a matter of hours?'

He was either crazy which meant she indeed shouldn't be traveling with him, or he was somehow telling the truth. That was even more troubling.

"Well, the reason I look older is that I've lived those three years. Over three years ago at least to me, I set sail from this island just like we are now. But at that time I was exactly the same as I was the last time Zoro saw me. Now I'm doing it all over again."

"Are you trying to tell us that you are somehow from the future? And if that's what you're trying to tell us how do you honestly expect us to believe you? That sounds absolu…"

But before Nami could continue Luffy interrupted saying "Nami I know why you need the money, and why you hate Arlong." At this Nami was stunned. She wasn't sure what to say, and her hand unconsciously reached for the tattoo underneath her shirt.

Turning to Zoro, he said, "I know why you carry the sword that you wield in your mouth, and why you must become the world's greatest swordsman." With this revelation, it was Zoro's turn to act stunned. Although he hid it much better than Nami did. The three grew silent, and Luffy let them think on what he had said.

After some time Nami spoke up again "Say that we believe you, but I'm still skeptical that you're not totally crazy. But if what you're saying is true then why did you come back?"

At this Nami and Zoro noticed he tensed up and averted his eyes, but not fast enough as they both saw the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"I purposely came back, but it was because the alternative meant… I just couldn't accept what happened. I had to come back to change what happens in the future."

"Luffy…" at this Luffy looked back up to Nami "What happened to make you come back?"

"I had to come back because a man took everything I cared about in this world from me. He murdered my nakama and my brother. In the end, I was left with nothing. All because I wasn't strong enough."

"Were the two of us among those that this man… killed?" Nami asked fearful of the answer. At this Luffy could only nod weakly.

"Nami I think we should leave the captain alone for a while. I don't think I'm the only one that wants to think on what's been said." Zoro said as he stood up and headed for the small cabin being followed closely behind by Nami.

Although Nami, as she entered, stole one last glance back to Luffy and noticed the tears were flowing more freely now. She could feel herself tearing up as well.

As much as she wanted to believe that he was crazy, she was starting to seriously doubt it. Which made what he said all the more terrifying.

Luffy was now alone as the door to the cabin closed. Luffy moved closer to the prow of the ship and looked into the murky depths of the ocean.

Since he had come back there been no time to contemplate what had happened to him the past twenty-four hours. No time since the deaths of his nakama to mourn. But now two of them had just been right in front of him. They were alive again just like that man had promised he was sent back in time. But now what would happen?

Although the man didn't say when he would send Luffy he hadn't thought it'd be this far back. But even then the man hadn't given him any pointers on how to deal with the situation he found himself in. Zoro had known something was wrong the instant he had seen him.

But those were problems he would deal with tomorrow. For now, he wanted only to mourn the deaths of the nakama he had lost. It turns out he wouldn't get the luxury.

"So what'd I tell ya pretty neat huh? Is it everything you'd thought it would be?"

Luffy recognized that voice. Turning around he saw the skeletal-like man grinning down at him